Charlie Shavers
b. 3 August 1917, New York City, New York, USA, d. 8 July 1971. Shavers took up trumpet in his teens and played with various minor bands before joining Tiny Bradshaw in 1937. In the same year he played with Lucky Millinder, Jimmie Noone and John Kirby. The Kirby sextet proved an ideal setting for him, both as trumpeter and arranger, and he stayed for seven years. Among his compositions written while with Kirby are Pastel Blue, which with lyrics added became Why Begin Again, and Undecided, which became a jazz standard in its own right and with added lyrics a hit for Ella Fitzgerald. In 1944 he left Kirby for the Tommy Dorsey orchestra, where for a decade he was featured soloist. He made records throughout these years with various leaders, including a session under the nominal guidance of Herbie Haymer that featured Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich. This set was issued, fluffs, retakes, off-microphone comments and all, under the title ANATOMY OF A JAM SESSION. Another admirable date from this period was a Gene Norman concert at Pasadena, California, issued under Lionel Hampton's name. In the '50s and '60s Shavers played mostly in small groups, often as leader, touring extensively as a single and with Jazz At The Philharmonic. A masterly musician, Shavers was capable of adapting to almost any mainstream setting. In the right company he would produce emotionally powerful playing; with Kirby he played with the elegance and finesse this group demanded, and in his later years with JATP he would deliver wildly exciting bravura solos, all with remarkable ease and overt good humour.